MISFIT P is for parking M
isfit is not a political animal. He likes to think he is doing more than any politician to improve the lot of mankind by keeping a small part of the nation shod, but he suddenly finds himself involved in protests and petitions. What has caused him to discard his apathy and get
involved? It is the big P for parking. Not long ago our rulers engaged Mrs. Portas to do the research and tell them why the High Street is dying. She came up with a number of suggestions to rejuvenate the old lady, well up on the list being reducing the high cost of parking near town centres so that retailers there could compete with the local supermarkets where parking is free. Our council has responded rapidly to this suggestion. To get in before the
government does anything they have doubled and in some cases trebled parking charges but not only that, they have had the effrontery to extend the area covered by parking restrictions to include the street where Misfit Shoes carries on his business. This is serious. Up to now we have been lucky enough to be in an enclave where there are no meters or anything like that, and we had a free car park not far away, which was a wonderful Unique Selling Proposition. People came from far and wide not just to buy our wonderful shoes but to bask in parking freedom while they did so. No longer. Over the Bank Holiday while no-one was looking white lines were painted and signs fixed to lampposts bringing us into line with the rest of the borough. The free car park is free no longer. Not only that, but they are removing all their parking meters. In your innocence, dear reader, you may think removing these ghastly objects cannot but be a good thing. You are wrong. Anyone who wants to park a car in this borough now has to use their mobile phone. To the high-ups in the Town Hall this must have seemed top cool, but, once again our leaders have not thought it through. Right away the older voters cried out that they had not got mobile phones. A particularly arrogant politico’s response was that anyone who drives a car must have a mobile. He does not know our customers, many of whom are of an age where they don’t have one, don’t know how to use it, keep it switched off to save electricity, forget to charge it or simply can’t find it at the bottom of their handbag. Parking by phone used to be an alternative. Now it is compulsory. You
the only ones. Takings are down across the borough, and it is completely down to this new system and the high cost of parking. Retailers are getting together to protest, posters are going up in windows, customers are being asked to sign our petition; we are even planning a march. We have tried to meet the situation by knocking the parking charge off
the price of any shoes bought, which reduces our already meagre profit, of course. Eventually we will have to put our prices up, which will increase the RPI ever so slightly, but from the government’s point of view inflation is a good thing, since it reduces the National Debt, so that’s all right. I think it was Ronald Reagan who said the most spine-chilling words in the English language were “Hallo, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” Why could they not have left us alone and got on with their own job instead of worrying about the High Street? We know the answer to that – the more money they can gather in to pay their inflated salaries the happier they are. In any case, what is the High Street? The actual High Street, the one with a sign on it saying High Street or something similar, is still alive if not actually kicking. Where the dereliction lies is on its margins and in the small
Parking by phone used to be an alternative. Now it is compulsory. You have to register with the parking people, giving them your credit card details and car number, after which it is a simple matter of phoning or texting your car number and the location so they can deduct the exorbitant fee. Simple, as those meercats say. Only it isn’t.
have to register with the parking people, giving them your credit card details and car number, after which it is a simple matter of phoning or texting your car number and the location so they can deduct the exorbitant fee. Simple, as those meercats say. Only it isn’t. The location number is on the pavement side of the lamppost so you have to get out of the car to see it and can’t hear what their automatic voice is saying standing by a noisy road in wind and rain. In the cold and wet texting is a real pleasure. We have actually seen two customers drive up look at the parking sign and drive away. Another was observed jumping up and down and screaming at his mobile phone; he drove off as well. And they are the ones we happened to notice. It is definitely affecting our business, and we are not
10 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • MAY 2012
parades built to service housing estates and outlying suburbs. We shoe retailers are fortunate in having a product which needs a degree of service in the selling of it, so we survive, but we should not be complacent. I have seen a supermarket with a substantial shoe offering, and the quantity of shoes sold through the internet grows year by year. These days very few customers actually walk away in the shoes they have bought, in fact very few customers walk at all. They arrive at our shop by car or did until now. Which is actually a chink of light. During the recent petrol panic we
noticed a slight upward trend in footfall and sales. Could it be that the ever- increasing price of petrol, parking and other running costs will make using a car so expensive and inconvenient people will go back to walking. That surely must be good for business. And the Town Hall will see their parking revenue shrink accordingly. Which is their worry. Think geese and golden eggs.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44